Why go shopping when you can go hiking?

If I only had a day in Edmonton and I had to choose between visiting the West Edmonton Mall or heading an hour out of town to a national park to watch wildlife, the park would win every time.

And that’s exactly what I did during my brief stay in Alberta’s capital. I had a quick tour of Elk Island National Park, home to several large mammals, including, as the name would suggest, elk, moose, white-tail and mule deer and, most notably, plains and wood bison.

The plains bison was nearly wiped out in the 19th century, but a population was preserved at Elk Island by the Canadian government in 1907. That foresight enabled scientists to bring the species back from the brink of extinction. In fact, most of the reintroduced populations of bison in the world descend from the original herd at Elk Island.

The park is also home to another species of bison, the woods bison which remains an endangered species in Canada.

To keep the two species apart, the park is divided into two sections which is made possible by a highway that runs through it. The park is also unique in that it is the only national park in Canada which is completely fenced off, keeping animals inside and predators out. The fences also serve to divide the two herds.

Because the animals are confined in the 194 square kilometres of the park and there are no natural predators, except for the occasional coyote attack on a young or sick animal, it becomes necessary to thin the bison herds on occasion. It’s easy with the plains bison because they can be sold as meat. With the threatened wood buffalo, excess animals are shipped off to other parts of the world, such as Siberia, in the hopes of establishing or bolstering populations of the species elsewhere.

During our visit, we saw plenty of plains bison, either small groups of females with young or solitary males. They are easy enough to approach, but don’t get too close because the animals can be aggressive if they feel threatened.

We never did see any elk, deer or moose, although there were a couple of coyote sightings and lots of birds. More than 250 species can be spotted here during the year with about 150 of them being residents of the park.

We were lucky to spot birds with the park’s director, Dr. Stephen Flemming. Long ago, he worked as a guide in the park and he still enjoys meeting with the public and every weekend he spends some time leading visitors on bird-watching hikes.

Our visit was on a sunny, but cool day, the perfect time to explore. Normally, this place is packed on summer weekends because of its proximity to Edmonton. There is a lake with a beach and people come for the day. There is also camping for RVs and tents so people will spend the weekend.When the weekend is over, the park pretty much empties out so visitors from further afield would be wise to come during the week, although if you really want to hike and explore on the weekend, it’s easy enough to avoid the day-use areas and head out for some of the wilder parts of Elk Island.

Something new that they are trying this year are tipi stays. They have a number of tipis that you can rent that come complete with cots and mattress pads.I never did get to the Edmonton Mall, but I’m glad that I discovered Elk Island National Park, a natural gem that is so remarkably close to one of Canada’s major cities.